Glass Therapy
by OathKeeper717
Summary: With every glass of sake her life got a little better. Oneshot. Sakura centric.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything.

Glass Therapy

It was a sunny day in Konoha.

She sat at a window in her room, alone with nothing but her thoughts and a bottle of sake for company. The house was spotless. It was always spotless because she was always cleaning and keeping things tidy. Work kept her mind busy and the only things she had to worry about were what was dirty and how to fix it. Sarada was at school, learning about how to become a ninja and more than likely arguing with Boruto about something or another. It would be a while before she got home, more than enough time for this.

Green eyes stared into the liquid inside her cup. Her teacher loved the drink, always downed it like water whenever she could. "Therapy in a glass!" Tsunade would cheerfully, drunkenly, shout before raising her glass and throwing it back. At the time her apprentice thought it was funny, just another quirk about her esteemed mentor. She was allowed to have a dysfunction right? She was the mighty Tsunade and could heal practically any injury. Who cared what she did in her time off?

The pink haired woman raised her glass before quickly emptying the cup. The alcohol used to make her cough and splutter when she did this. Now it went down smooth after months of practice. The best part was it didn't even take too long to start its magical work. She could already feel herself growing sluggish.

If she drank enough she could forget that her husband didn't love her.

Enough shots and she could imagine that Sasuke had come to the village to stay and that everything he'd ever done prior to this, that was just him hiding how he really felt about her. When he said thank you it meant that he'd be back to see her because she had wormed her way into his heart. They'd get married and have kids and the past, the times he'd tried to kill her, would all fade away into the darkest corners of their memory.

Another shot. Then another one in quick succession. To this day she remembered the crazed look in his eyes when he tried to ram a chidori through her after she utterly failed to kill him. She could feel his hand around her throat, crushing it as lightning crackled and darkness entered the edges of her vision. If Naruto had not shown up…where would she be right now? Would her name be on the memorial stone?

She burped and poured herself another glass. This one to push away the memory of Sasuke and Karin appearing in the village one day years ago, baby in hand. Sasuke felt like he couldn't properly raise it so he was giving her to someone he could trust. She couldn't say no to him. She could never say no to him. So she agreed, on the condition that he married her. If she was going to raise his child then that means he was going to marry her and they'd be a family. He had…reluctantly…agreed. Three days and a quiet ceremony later and the deed was done. Naruto hadn't been pleased. Not that he was genuinely pleased with anything anymore but that day he'd worn a glare on his face as he oversaw the ceremony and heard them both say I do. Was it because he'd worked so hard to keep Sasuke in the village but failed? Was it because he still loved her? But no, absurd. He was in love with Hinata. Another shot, this one to stop that train of thought and so she wouldn't dwell on the bitterness that was ever-present in the eyes of the seventh Hokage. He'd achieved his dream, he was happy.

Shot number six. Because Sasuke had sworn to come back yet she hadn't seen him in years. She had to stop soon. Her…_his_…daughter would be home soon and the poor girl didn't need to see her like this. Sarada already knew too much about her stepmother as it is. She always seemed to be around when the loan sharks came and demanded the payments on the house. Payments that were coming fewer and farther in between. The hospital didn't provide very many hours during peace time and babies were expensive. Getting another job was out of the question since she was always on call and when she cracked and started looking that's when the hospital would summon her. Another shot so she wouldn't dwell on how stupid it was that a hospital in a ninja village would be practically empty all of the time. Just a side effect of the peace that fourth shinobi world war had brought.

_Crash._

Ho..How did she get on the floor? She couldn't even remember standing up.

"Mom?"

Shit.

Sarada looked down at her mother, school bag held loosely in her arms. Her charcoal eyes were narrowed and cold.

"You shouldn't drink in the middle of the afternoon." She said.

Sakura tried to stand up, she really did. But for whatever reason her body wouldn't obey her, she just wound up slamming her head against the windowsill and going back down. Although on the plus side, she landed near the sake bottle on the floor. It spilled though..damn. Perfectly good sake gone to waste.

Footsteps told her Sarada had gone up the stairs, used to her mother being in this state. Funny. Sakura never remembered Sarada catching her drunk. She reached for the bottle and rolled over on her back after grabbing it.

There wasn't much left, might as well finish it. Drain the bottle and she wouldn't have to see mini Karin. Drain the bottle and she'd have something to clean when she woke up because vomit stunk up the house worse than anything. An empty bottle was a ticket to a world where her daughter wasn't disgusted by her and lonely without her dad. They'd all be together and happy. Naruto would be there too, smiling a real smile and standing behind Kakashi and his wheelchair. Team Seven.

She just wanted Team Seven back. Was that too much to ask? Was it too much to want to go back to a time without kids and Karin? Hinata and fake marriages? To be kids again going on missions and learning the art of being shinobi from their crazy teacher who always wore a mask?

Sakura emptied the bottle and fell into an inky darkness.

Transferred over to a world where she finally had a happy ending.


End file.
